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Business Education Summit
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
The Education Foundation’s Business Education Summit has a fifteen-year track record of convening educators and leaders from the business community to engage in active dialogue about significant issues regarding the preparation of today’s students for tomorrow’s workforce. This annual event attracts hundreds of business, community and education leaders and is an ideal venue for meeting new colleagues and partners. Sponsorships for the event puts your company out in front in supporting school-business partnerships and education in our community.
2010 Business Education Summit Message -- Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Belong to Everyone
The Education Foundation’s 15th Annual Business Education Summit was October 27 and was a huge success. Nearly 300 business and education leaders attended the event which was centered around the theme: Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM): Keys to Our Future Workforce. The Summit included a keynote address, panel presentations and table discussion as well as award presentations.
This year’s keynote speaker, Susan Lavrakas, spoke to the group about the importance of STEM education, calling the international growth in these areas a “gathering storm” that demands our attention if we are to remain globally competitive. Lavrakas is Government Relations Director with BAE Systems, a global aerospace company and currently serves as Chair of the Workforce Committee of the Aerospace Industries Association.
Lavrakas outlined a three-tiered approach to STEM education that has been effective in regions and states across the country. First, identify best practices, then reach out and collaborate with others who desire to advance education in key STEM-related areas and finally, work together on public awareness and mobilization campaigns. She also emphasized that solutions to the challenges concerning STEM education must stretch across the pipeline—from K-12 to vocational colleges to four- year colleges.
Following the keynote address, three business leaders from the Trident region discussed ways to advance and sustain STEM education for students in Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties. Gary Scott, Director of Total Force Management at SPAWAR discussed the importance of partnerships with education that are formed at the district level. Clint Lucas, Human Resources Manager at Showa Denko Carbon, stressed that education must build on children’s natural curiosity about how things work and give real-world problems that require students to think through processes and solutions for themselves. Jonathan Zucker, President, The InterTech Group, invited the audience to think about STEM in broad terms – that creativity, troubleshooting, thinking about cause-and-effect are required in every career path.
The panel discussion led into discussions at each table, where participants discussed how they could be involved in STEM education and what steps they would recommend to generate, maintain and sustain a movement toward world-class STEM education in this region.
Video: Susan Lavrakas, keynote speaker from the 2010 Business Education Summit
Building Community Support for STEM Education
Why you should attend the Business Education Summit:
Does your business require science, technology, engineering or math skills?
Do you find qualified employees who are skilled and ready to work?
Do you want to learn about effective strategies for creating world-class STEM education in our public high schools and how you can be involved?
For more information contact: Jess Wickersham, 805-3080, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
